Sunday Run and Fun

Some awesome racing by the Trail Monsters today! HUGE congrats to Ian, Emma and George for their finishes in the Virgil Crest 100! 100 miles. Amazing!!!!! And big congrats to Ryan for his 3rd place finish today in the 65 Roses 5k this morning down in Portland. Who said you can't run ultras and have some speed too? :-) Stephen also had a great race there, coming in 5th.

The morning dawned foggy, muggy and warm. Isn't it September 25th? Shouldn't it be cool and crisp? Guess not! Sam was up early enough that with a bit of hustling, we were able to accompany Ryan down to Portland for the race. We parked the car right near the playground along the Eastern Prom, and while Ryan registered and warmed up, Sam and I had a great time taking a short walk and then playing on the playground.

View down onto the bay. Can you see the low fog? Very pretty!

Sunflowers 

Along the Eastern Prom

In fact, Sam had so much fun she didn't want to leave to go down to the start :-) Sorry Ryan!

Yellow swing! (I kept asking her if she wanted to get out and do something else, and she'd say, "No Mama. Happy swing." :-)

Happy in the stroller

Climbing the steps all by herself

We ran into Kelly and the kids, playing while Stephen raced, and enjoyed the nice morning. The fog burned off pretty quickly, leaving blue skies and sunshine. And it got hot too! The first place finisher came by running at a pretty quick clip. I wasn't quite sure what Ryan was hoping to run, but figured he would be coming by sometime soon. And sure enough, there he was! In 3rd place. I grabbed Sam and we ran up to the sidewalk, to cheer him on as he ran by. Then quickly into the stroller and down to the finish we went, getting there just in time to see his finish. It all happened so fast, I didn't get any photos, but luckily Jeff did :-)

Half mile to the finish. Looking strong!

Sam and I hung out on the grass, watching the crowds, while Ryan and Jeff did a short run together, and then after Ryan collected a nice bag of prizes, we took off for a yummy brunch at Stonyfield Cafe before heading home.

After putting Sam down for a nap and doing a few things around the kitchen, I took off for my own run. It was 12:30, 80 degrees and humid. And I hadn't run in 5 days. I can't say I felt all that great, but it was nice to be out running again! I ran through the Mt. Ararat trails, along the Heath and down to the Cathance River, enjoying the shade of the woods and the sound of the rushing water. As I ran back along the Heath, I looked out over the bog, filled with cotton sedge. Very pretty. The leaves are slowly beginning to turn in the marshy areas, but it sure felt like summer! Got in a good 5.25 miles, and came home to find that Sam didn't want to nap, so we hung out for the afternoon before Nate, Shannon and the kiddos came over for a bit of play, catch-up and dinner. A fun Sunday for sure!